


Double-Cross

by AMGee



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: BAMF Filius Flitwick, Homelessness, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Morally Grey Characters, Orphans, Pomona Sprout is a Great Head of House, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Severus Snape Has a Heart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:47:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23824057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AMGee/pseuds/AMGee
Summary: Jeanie, Silas, Annabelle.Ice, Water, Fire.Cunning, Smart, Loyal.Raised as family, Jeanie, Silas and Annie were forced to fight to survive. Separated by a sentient hat, they would continue to fight to stay alive.Old habits die hard, after all.
Relationships: Filius Flitwick & Original Male Character, Original Female Character & Original Female Character, Original Female Character & Original Male Character, Pomona Sprout & Original Female Character, Severus Snape & Original Character(s)





	Double-Cross

Life isn't just coloured in black and white. There are a billion different shades of grey between the two extremes.

A man kills the man responsible for murdering his wife and unborn child.   
A woman steals from the cash registers at work, the only thought on her mind being her babies who needed the shelter of a home they were one missed payment away from losing.

It's not possible for a person's morals to be completely untainted. Not when the current state of the world is as it is.

That's what the girl reminded herself as she walked calmly down the busy street, bumping into wealthy strangers and mumbling halfhearted apologies. 

She tripped on a curb, arms flailing for a moment before they gripped the arms of a man walking the opposite way. She steadied herself, not moving her hands as she whispered a quiet, indecipherable comment.

Nimble fingers withdrew from the pocket of a navy blue suit jacket, leather wallet hastily tucked into the depths of the owner's jumper.

"Oi, that bitch has my wallet!" She was already speeding away.

The occupants of the crowded street looked at once towards the man, eyes drifting over an expensive suit, Rolex watch peeking out of his sleeve as he pointed wildly towards a young girl, face obscured by a hood, barely visible through the thick crowd as she ducked into an alleyway and disappeared from view.

"Right, so we've got sixty in notes - perfect, twenty each - a gold bracelet, a wallet - pretty sure it's real leather, look of the bloke - and...a Walkman? Seriously, Sil? I'm not even sure I wanna know how you managed that!" She glanced bemusedly at the chunky device before switching her gaze to the boy sat cross legged opposite her.

"What?" Eyes wide and face blank, the boy tilted his head in apparent confusion and shrugged a shoulder, "I want to see what all the fuss is about."

The girl rolled her eyes, leaning back against the side of her bed, "fine, keep it. Me 'n' Annie are sharing the money for the bracelet and wallet, though."

The other girl looked up from her admiring of the shiny jewellery at the mention of her name and gave a slight grin, "fine with me, that means I've got enough for a Cabbage Patch Kid!"

"Sure, but you'll be explaining to Miss Hope why you've suddenly go a brand new toy when the Gov' barely give us enough money for dinner, let alone enough for a nice little shopping trip., Belle." The boy - Silas - ruffled his hair, disturbing his already messy mop of dark curls as he surveyed the red-head holding the bracelet.

Annabelle laughed quietly at the comment - it was common knowledge amongst the trio that Miss Hope let her get away with a lot more than the others. This wasn't a hard accomplishment; Jeanie and Silas didn't hide that they were different like she did, leading to them being subject to much scrutiny from the staff and other children.

The room the three were sitting in belonged to the girls. Homemade wooden plaques above each identical bed noted who it belonged to. The lilac walls and carpeted floor were a stark opposite to his own colourless bedroom.

"Mind turning on the light, Silas?" The golden glow from the setting sun was rapidly disappearing, casting dark shadows upon the small room. The auburn haired girl pointedly looked at the girl who had closed her eyes and clenched her hands into fists, knuckles turning pearly. 

The boy leaned over to the bedside table and switched on the lamp, tucking their day's 'earnings' into a box which he locked and pushed as far under Jeanie's bed as he could reach.

Stealing hadn't been an absolute necessity for a few months, but none of the three found that they particularly wanted to stop. 

It had begun with Silas, when unusual happenings prompted missed meals and withheld necessities. He taught himself to act weaker than he was, to act helpless in order to receive loose change from the pitying passers by. 

The first thing he purposely stole was a bar of chocolate. His stomach had been cramping with the pain of missed meals, and he had spent ten minutes poring over the shelf at the back of the shop for the cheapest item. This had progressed to learning to keep his fingers light, to make his reflexes lightening fast as his hands slipped into pockets and bags, retrieving wallets and valuables without notice.

This had continued with Jeanie, someone he found common ground with for the first time in his life. Someone who understood the shaking windows and shattered mugs and floating books. He showed the seven year old - whose eyes were as old as the ones he saw in the shattered bathroom mirror every morning - how to fake a stumble, how to unlatch a piece of jewellery, how to calculate from a distance how much a ring or watch or purse would sell for.

Annabelle had been different. When she arrived the day after Silas' birthday, they had expected her to steer clear of them - like all of the other children. Instead, she had made herself at home on the empty bed in Jeanie's room (it had, admittedly, been the only one available at the time). She followed the two quieter children like a lost puppy for two weeks before they spoke more than a few words to her. She had been the perfect addition to their pair; smoothing their rough edges and finding a place to fit in the narrow cracks they hadn't even noticed were there. When the two were locked away without a meal, she would hide oranges and bread in her pockets - of course this wasn't needed by the time she arrived, a stash of food hidden in the back of a drawer in each of their bedrooms. They still smiled and accepted the offerings. 

Unexpectedly, Annabelle hadn't needed to be shown how to steal by the other two - they should have realised this from the streams of food which nobody ever seemed to notice going missing. She explained after months of continuous pestering; life on the streets for a child was not going to end well if she didn't learn to help herself. She had been found by a girl - a teenager - who had taught her the act.

Stealing hadn't been an absolute necessity for a few months. 

Silas and Jeanie had been slowly controlling whatever it was that caused things to go wrong around them after discovering that it was somehow connected to their emotions. Annabelle's own 'displays' were usually in the privacy of their own room, hidden behind a closed door, and if anything ever happened in public, nobody would ever be any the wiser - Silas and Jeanie were the freaks, anyway. 

Upon the revelation of a possible cause for the happenings, the trio had began experimenting - they hadn't managed much more than to make a pencil roll over or float if they were particularly energetic that day. The private practice seemed to help them to stop doing anything that would agitate Miss Hope, thankfully, so warm meals replaced snatched fruits and chocolates.

Still, they continued - it was a thrill, a rush that gave them something to do day after day. Besides, a little extra money kept in a locked box under a bed wouldn't do any harm, would it?


End file.
